(Radio Iowa) – Republican lawmakers are promising to produce a plan that reduces property taxes. House Republican Leader Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley says legislators heard complaints about property taxes repeatedly during the 2024 campaign. “People want to make sure that their homes are affordable,” Windschitl says, “and if they made the investment into their homes, that they’re not getting taxed out of them.” Windschitl says a previously-passed cap on property tax growth will be part of the equation.

“There are a lot of different players that are going to need to be around the table to figure out how we do this,” Windschitl says, “and how we do it appropriately.” Senator Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, says Iowans are seeing big increases in property taxes collected by cities and counties.  “An average of a more than 7% increase for counties and 6% for cities? That’s money out of property tax payers’ pockets. It’s money out of Iowans’ pockets and it’s making it more expensive to live in Iowa,” Bousselot says. “We have to address that this session. We will address that this session.”

House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says if the property tax cuts are too deep, it may leave cities high and dry when the time comes to pay for the roads. “We’re listening to local community leaders because they know their cities best,” Konfrst says, “and they’re a little tired of getting big policies handed down from Des Moines that hurt their local community.” Senate Democratic Leader-elect Janice Weiner says she believes in local control — giving officials at the city and county level authority to do their jobs.

“We heard from local communities during the last round of property tax reform,” Weiner says. “They came in from the very beginning to express their concern that there were local priorities that needed to be funded.” Weiner served on the city council in Iowa City before winning a seat in the Iowa Senate in 2022.